Coventry City and Southend United have played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in their League One clash at the Ricoh Arena.

The game saw plenty of early action as both sides weighed in with a number of good chances, most notably through Ryan Leonard and Ruben Lameiras.

Coventry then went on to break the deadlock just after the half-hour mark as Adam Armstrong's header was cleared off the line before Reda Johnson lashed in the rebound through a crowd of bodies.

The Shrimpers, however, equalised just minutes later when a short corner was worked to Noel Hunt, who headed past Lee Burge at the far post.

With four minutes left in the half, Phil Brown's charges edged themselves into the lead when a foul in the box prompted the referee to award the visitors a penalty, which David Mooney duly converted.

Southend nearly added a third on the stroke of half time, Hunt nodding a ball back it back into the danger area, but David Worrall's strike was frantically blocked and hacked away.

The hosts were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart when Sam Ricketts was brought down in the Shrimpers box, but Jim O'Brien's spot kick was saved by Daniel Bentley, who guessed the correct way.

Nevertheless Tony Mowbray's charges managed to get back on level terms midway through the second half courtesy of Ricketts's thumping header from a corner.

Joe Murphy twice came close to getting back into the lead in the latter stages of the match, but both efforts were smartly saved by Bentley, who also kept out Marcus Tudgay's low shot in injury time.

The result means that Coventry sneak into the League One playoff places, while Southend edge out of the relegation zone.